воскресенье, 30 июня 2013 г.

Bengt Nilsson mentions about Cronhjort’s
campaign on Russian-Swedish border in Dec. 1700-Jan. 1701 in his fine article (click).
I find some additional materials about them, incl. description of the siege of
Saari. All dates in my post are in new style (+10 days to the dates in
Nilsson’s one)

Cronhjort’s
army was about 5,100 men in February-March of 1701, incl. 2,700 of cavalry
& 2,400 of foot troops with 8 cannons. Nilsson mentions that Cronhjort had
4,600 men in his campaign in January. Evidently he left some infantry (ab. 500)
in garrisons of Nien & Noteburg.

In
the beginning of January of 1701 Cronhjort crossed the frontier river Lawa
& occupied some Russian villages including Saari. It was a small village of
6 farmsteads & a small estate of local gentry. His main task was getting
contributions & supplies. And after some days Swedes decided to turn back.

Meanwhile Russians sent a detachment
under kniaz Putiatyn to protect the border villages. It consisted of 1,500 of
Novgorod mounted feudal levy & 400 Streltzy. They came to Saari some days
after Swedes left it. Putiatyn took positions in the estate of Saari & sent
raiding parties to the Swedish territory.

When Cronhjort got news about Russian
troops on 27 January 1701, he decided to turn back to Saari. Swedes approached
it on next days (28 Jan 1701). Russian waited them in the field. After a short
resistance Russian cavalry fled to Ladoga with a loss of about 20 men, while
Streltzy retreated to the estate & fortified there.

Swedes made an assault on the estate
but were repealed. Small field pieces were useless against thick wooden walls.
All attempts to set fire to them were without results. Russian sources
mentioned 12 skirmishes & assaults on Saari with the total loss of about
200 men from Swedish side. Cronhjort wrote about at least 3 unsuccessful
assaults: on 28 January, on 31 January & on 2 February. The last resulted
in the loss of 81 Swedes killed & wounded.

Cronhjort
asked for mortars & they arrived on 5 February, but the same day Streltzy
escaped from Saari & undiscovered retreated to Ladoga. Swedes stayed
several days at Saari & then returned back.

On 11 February 1700 Saxon
forces crossed the Swedish border in an attempt to take Riga by surprise. The
next day Governor General Erik Dahlbergh sent Captain Johan Brask of the Nyland
Infantry Regiment to Stockholm with the instruction to give Charles XII a full
report of the events.[i]
As the news spread across the Baltic provinces the Swedish army started to
mobilize. The Estonian Governor General Axel Julius de la Gardie sent his own
courier to Stockholm on 19 February, suggesting that the Finnish regiment
should be given orders to march on Livonia. Considering the difficulties of
getting letters across the Baltic Sea during the winter de la Gardie took the
liberty of sending a similar request directly to the Finnish County Governors
and regimental commanders. De la Gardies courier Captain Otto Magnus Wolffelt
carried these letters through Estonia, Ingria and southern Finland, probably
reaching Sweden by route of the Åland Islands. Wolffelt reached Charles XII at
the very latest on 7 March, when Captain Brask (who had taken the route around
the Gulf of Bothnia) had not yet arrived. The King immediately ordered a full
mobilization of the Finnish regiments, but this had already started when the
news from Riga reached Finland.[ii]

The regular Finnish forces
were not very large. In each of the six southern counties there was one
infantry regiment: Åbo (1,025 men), Björneborg (1,025), Tavastehus (1,025), Viborg
(1,000), Savolax (1,033) and Nyland (1,025). There were also three
cavalry regiments: Åbo and Björneborg (1,000),
Nyland and Tavastehus (1,000) and Karelska (1,000), as well as a small
unit of dragoons (500). To these can be added the Österbotten Infantry Regiment (1,200) and the Finnish companies of Adelsfanan.[iii]
However, not all of these units were available. The Österbotten infantry was
tied to garrison duty in Riga and in some other Livonian fortresses and the
same was true for at least a couple of companies from the Åbo and the Nyland infantry
regiments. Probably not much more that 9 000 men could consequently be
counted on for the formation of a field army.[iv]
No reinforcements from Sweden could be
expected in the foreseeable future, considering the season and the tension with
Denmark.

понедельник, 10 июня 2013 г.

Allied garrison at Oudenarde (1,100)
was besieged on 16 July by French troops (22 batts, 3 sqns, 33 cannons & 4
mortars) under Lowendal. French opened siege work on the night 18/19 July &
made the fortress to capitulate on July 21. The garrison became the prisoners
of war & was sent to Tournay.

пятница, 7 июня 2013 г.

In 1698 Russians sent an army of around 15,000 men under Yakov Dolgorukiy to take Turkish fortress Ochakov. It consisted of 5,000 Russian troops from Sevsk & about 10,000 of Malorussian Cossacks under Hetman Ivan Mazepa. Allies reached Tavan by the end of June, but then were forced to turn back due to a lack of supplies. Below are details about strength & composition of the Sevsk Corps under Luka Dolgorukiy.

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This blog is dedicated to Russian military history (wars, organization, uniforms, colors, weapons) & related topics (enemies & allies - their organisation, uniforms, etc). Among my favorite topics also are Polish-Lithuanian state & army, Ottoman army & Polish Succession war 1733-35.
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